Sybil Jane Perry HarlanRevised - 24JUN2009

VIRGIE ANN MATTHEWSMARCH 1883 - APRIL 24, 1970

Virgie and Some Family

I believe she was the third daughter of Houston and Margarett Matthews.Her sisters Mary Nora, Carrie Frances, and brothers, John D. and Thomas (Bob) were older.Younger siblings were Solon and twins Price and Add; half-siblings Floyd, Roy, Viola, Beulah, Maggie and Sharp. Virgie talked about a sister that died after eating a bunch of mulberries and I think it was Carrie. My first memory of my grandmother, Virgie Perry, is not of her so much; but of her home, about a mile south of the Mount Zion Methodist Church on West Point Road in Lawrence County Tennessee.Her home was built in a clearing between Paul McLain’s cotton field and the Boswell property.The two room house was constructed as a store front; with living quarters in the back, which Retha and Dusty (Hershel) McLaren owned; and I think built.They originally had a little country store there.Remnants of it remained, like the small, open shelves in the wall between the two-by-four studs.It was a few years before sheet rock and wallpaper were added.Instead of a door, cotton curtains hung at the entrance to the back room.Seems like the front and back porches may have been constructed sometime after the Perry’s moved in.Needless to say, there was no indoor plumbing.During the winters it was heated by a small wood-burning stove in the front room and a cook stove in the back room.And during the hot summer months, well; cooking didn't make that much of a difference; it was just hot. I don’t know when Mom Perry and Uncle Ollie moved in but I do remember being there when I was about four years old.It was a typical Sunday afternoon, when families went for a ride after church, to see who all they could see, I guess.Relatives and neighbors for miles around had gathered.One family would stop; and the next approaching carload would see someone there that they knew, so they would stop too.This was in the late forties, so cars were just then becoming affordable for younger farming families in the West Point Tennessee area. Women and young children would cram inside that small house while the men stayed outside, mostly messing with their cars, and smoking and joking.At some point one would stick his head in the door to greet “Ms. Virgie”, “Aunt Virgie”, “Ms. Perry” or “Mom Perry” who; would be rocking in her rocking chair.Robert McLain’s family was there.He’s my age.He was down on the floor playing with toy cars and he gave me one to play with.When mother told me we had to leave, I asked if we could take him home with us so I would have someone to play with.I didn’t know why everyone laughed at me.And yes; I did have sisters but I just didn’t play well with them I guess. Virgie’s brother-in-law, Will Perry walked several miles up from West Point to see her during one of my visits, probably in the early fifties. Uncle Will wore a long black coat, black hat, and had long white hair, and a handsome white handlebar mustache.I watched closely as a cold, leftover biscuit disappeared bite-by-bite beneath that mustache.He washed it down with a cold cup of coffee that he didn't want to bother warming up.Every once in a while he would take the ends of each side of his mustache between his fingers and slowly curl them up into a circle as he spoke ever so softly and politely to ‘Virgie’; as he called her.I was in awe of him!I think I went back to school the next day and told my classmates that Mark Twain came to visit My grandmother. According to the stories I’ve heard from Dad and his sisters, my Grandpa Dick Perry was so sweet to Virgie; he 'babied’ her and just did everything he could to make her comfortable, possibly because she was ill so much.I suspect; that my grandfather was very much like his older brother Will.He sure looked like him.In my quest for more knowledge of my ancestors, I must confess; when I read that my grandfather and his brother Will could neither read nor write, I cried.Then I thought: The Perry’s came from a long line of hard working pioneers; mostly Irish; and they were good, honest people.Their father served in the Civil War - and survived.Maybe my grandfather couldn’t read, but My Grandmother could! Dick and Virgie were married in Lawrence County Tennessee in 1896.He was a farmer and he also hauled logs for sawmills.(Does that make him a Hauler; or a Logger?)Virgie’s father owned a sawmill (He was a Sawyer) so maybe that’s how they met.Both were born in Lauderdale Alabama; and lived there for a brief time during which their son Woodrow Houston Perry was born.Their other five children were born in or near West Point, I think.Mom Perry said she was born in Lexington Alabama but didn’t care to live there. Grandpa Perry had six brothers and seven sisters, most of them born in Lauderdale Alabama.Their parents, Joshua and Celina Minerva Gibson Perry moved into the Pinckney and West Point area where he and some of the boys worked for the Pinckney Mines.Joshua; living in Giles at the time, enlisted in the Tennessee 53rd Infantry during the Civil War and is buried in the CSA section of the Old Florence City Cemetery.Recently, the Daughters of the Confederacy placed a new headstone behind the original one; which is hard to read.Dad said his grandfather Joshua fought at the battle of Shiloh. In July 1906, Great-grandpa Joshua had gone to Florence to visit his daughters; and died there at the age of 74.Aunt Bertha said he was dead and buried two weeks before the family in Tennessee learned of his passing. By the time Virgie and Dick’s youngest child, Mary Virgie was born on May 2nd, 1921; Minerva had already become quite ill but she wanted to see the baby.Virgie almost died during the birth but by July she was able to make the trip so Minerva could see her new grandchild.Minerva died just two weeks later on July 25, 1921; and is buried next to her sister in the Pinckney Cemetery, just a little north of West Point.This cemetery is now practically lost, forgotten and deserted, except for a few scattered tombstones that seem to be slowing sliding down the hillside, high above the dirt road that winds around the hill.There are more trees than headstones and tombstones; plus leaves up to your knees.Beyond the road to the East sits a farmhouse and a barn in a beautiful valley with a creek.What a fantastic view! One story passed down from earlier times, quoted Mom Perry as saying that she told every housewife who was expecting a visit from Minerva, to hide their vanilla flavoring because she would drink it!I think the Gibson side of the family was part Cherokee.Top of Page Mother said that when she married into the family, there were always one or more Matthews relatives visiting with Virgie and Dick Perry; some stayed for weeks at a time.Mom Perry never talked much to me about her ancestors and relatives.Oh, she may have mentioned that one was a doctor, and that there were several girls in the family, but; “they lived off from here”.Her mother probably died when the twins and Solon were very young because the older sister Nora helped raise them.Virgie spoke of her brother Bob who lived in Florence; but I think he died about 1951.Bob’s daughter Sibble and her family visited frequently, which everyone enjoyed.Virgie was always thrilled when younger brothers Roy or Floyd and their families came to visit.She was very close to Viola, John D., and Add; who lived in the area.Price lived in Waynesboro and Solon eventually moved to Lawrenceburg.They visited too but Uncle Solon was usually drinking and Mom Perry didn’t like that, especially if kids were around.I remember him as being rather short, round, balding, and with a red nose.And he was a neat dresser.He also worked at Stick Beckman’s sawmill. During the summertime, siblings and cousins would entertain themselves outside at our grandmother’s house; catching June Bugs and tying a string around one leg so it could fly in a circle over our heads.Sometimes we could catch butterflies.Water was a precious commodity but if we had water pistols, and carried the water ourselves; there were water battles.We sprayed honeybees in the grass so we could pick them up by their wings.That sounds awful now; I haven’t seen a honeybee in years.Knob Creek was only about a block away from Mom Perry’s house but we weren’t allowed to go to the creek without adults, so we often begged parents to take us swimming.Not that we could all swim; but it was such fun playing in the creek.(And yes, there was a time when Knob Creek was unpolluted.)I also enjoyed the summer rains, especially when I could get out and play in it.If stuck inside during a thunderstorm, the rain hitting that old tin roof always sounded so good to me. One of my childhood visits to Mom Perrys was very eventful.We kids each had a couple of coins and were anxiously awaiting the ‘Peddler’ to stop by.For anyone not familiar with that term; it was a “store” in the back of a large truck that traveled the countryside; stopping at each farmhouse.Somehow; messing around; I managed to lose my dime between the cracks of the porch and couldn’t get it out.The Peddler was in sight so I was frantic!Uncle Roy and Aunt Gert just happened to show up at that moment and discovered the dilemma I was in.Aunt Gert didn’t hesitate for a second; she put that big wad of gum she was chewing on the end of a stick, heated it with a match, stuck it in between the planks and pulled out my dime! My Uncle Ollie remained a bachelor, staying with Mom Perry after his father died in 1941.They lived with us for a few years but probably decided to rent their own place to get away from us kids.Mom said that Ollie had contracted Malaria or some kind of fever when he was younger and almost died, but I don’t know how old he was when that occurred.The family took turns staying up nights with him.He was never left alone and his father always administered Ollie’s medicine.Grandpa Dick would not allow anyone else to do it. Ollie was quite a character; he was short-tempered; and would fly into a rage at the drop of a hat but in a minute or so he would be laughing, kidding around and wringing his hands; a habit of his.Ollie stuttered more than Uncle Add did, especially when he got excited, telling some tale.He would swear too, which Mom Perry sure didn’t like but we just attributed that to the illness he survived.Ollie called his mother “Ole Woman” when he fussed at her, but she just told him to “Go on and behave ya-self.” Uncle Ollie would carry cool, refreshing cave water in buckets from across the road anddown the side of a hill, by Jay McLain’s farmhouse.That first dipper full was always so good!And yes; we did drink from the same dipper.On the days that Uncle Ollie worked, he would get up early; build a fire in the wood cook stove and take the buckets to go get water.(Actually, he always got up at 5:00 whether he had to go to work or not.)His mother would get up, make breakfast and pack a lunch for him.Ollie shaved, ate, then he paced the floor; wringing his hands, waiting for Stick Beckman to pick him up for work at Stick’s saw mill.If Stick was a few minutes later than Ollie anticipated; they discussed the possibility that Stick might be sick or had forgotten about him.But he never did. After breakfast, the dishes were done, and put away; beds made, furniture dusted and the floors swept; it was swept out the door.Then lunch and supper was started.Mom Perry would sit and rock in her rocking chair and hum a tune; maybe listening to the radio.It was mostly static though.She would rock and watch the road when it was time for Ollie to get in from work, and ‘supper’ would be waiting for him. At times, I would felt terribly lonely and isolated at my grandmother’s home.My sister and I would sit for hours on that little front porch (with or without Mom Perry and Ollie); swatting flies and those annoying little sweat bees that were everywhere; we couldn’t get away from them; couldn’t even sit in the grass because of them.But still we sat; waiting for cars to pass; and all the time hoping one would stop.In our early teen years; about1956, my sister Dorothy and I would stay with Mom Perry during school break.Our cousin Jim Perry and his wife Nathalee would pick us up for church on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night.We went to a Baptist church where our Aunt Louise Perry was a member (and so were a couple of cute guys).When there was preaching or the Kelly’s had a Singing at Mount Zion Church, we would go there with Mom Perry.That was The Original Kelly’s, with Ms. Ethel at the upright piano, and Jimmy, Sonny and Ruth singing.Their descendants became the famous Kelly’s’ Gospel Quartet of today.Years ago, Houston Matthews (he was called Houston, not John) had milled the lumber for the Mount Zion Church to be built; as well as a small schoolhouse next door.One of the things that Uncle Floyd remembered about his father, was his work ethics.Huston must have believed that you work hard, do a day’s work, and always do the very best you can.He had a reputation of being the best sawyer in the county.When other sawmills developed problems with their saws bending and not cutting the timber straight; they called on Huston.He knew better than anyone how to align a saw, and make it right.When it came to estimating how much lumber could be milled from a single log, Huston knew the exact amount.Uncle Floyd said that Solon was almost as good a sawyer as his father was.The story that Floyd told about how clever Bob was at tending the boiler was great.Instead of doing the labor himself; Bob told the workers when to stoke it and when to feed it while he casually read his paper.(But someone else needs to relate that chapter.)Since there were two Huston Matthews in West Point at the same time; I'm not sure which one this refers to, but circumstances lead me to believe this one was my great-grandfather because everybody knows how well Huston and his sons loved moonshine.This event in Huston's life occurred; according to legend; when he was the constable or sheriff of West Point.It was rumored that Huston was very particular about who he arrested because one jail cell contained his moonshine that he supposedly sold.It was over a year before the governing body caught up with him.Bud Slagle said that sometime later Price also became the constable of West Point. My dad Glynn loved to tell a story about Uncle Solon playing the fiddle at a party in West Point.A murder occurred at this particular event; and when the officials arrived, they detained everyone until early in the morning.When Houston arrived to pick up Solon for work, the sheriff said they had to hold an inquest so nobody; including Solon; could leave.Houston just bellowed out, “Yeah, he can; cause I come to get him!”Solon got up and left with his father.Top of PageOne of our family ghost stories involves Mount Zion Church.Sometime after Mom and Dad married, Dad was riding his mule home from working in the fields.It was barely dark that evening as he was passing the church.He thought he saw a light inside, which was unusual since there didn’t seem to be anyone around (and shouldn't be).Curious, he rode up to a window to take a closer look.For years he swore he saw a headless person sitting inside. I don’t believe Mom Perry was ever afraid.Once, when her sister Nora was very ill; Virgie sat up with her, as was the custom when any family member was sick in bed.Sometime during the night, Virgie said she notice an old woman appear out of nowhere, sitting in a chair across the bed from her, worriedly watching over Nora.Finally, Virgie got up and said, “Hum; if you’re going to sit up with her, I’m going to bed.” And she did.Next morning Nora asked Virgie why she didn’t sit up with her; but Virgie just told her she didn't see the need to sit up with that “Ole Woman” watching over her.Aunt Mary can't remember how her mother described the vision's appearance. Houston's second wife Nannie died April 28, 1912.I believe the doctor reported the death was due to complications of rheumatism.JD and his wife Janie had no children of their own so they helped Houston care for his young children.Uncle John sat up with Little Maggie when she was very ill.The night she died, John said he saw the ghost of a little girl in the room.The spirit drifted away through one corner of the room; which is where the family chose to “laid out” Little Maggie's body for viewing.She passed June 15, 1912, just weeks after her mother's death.A strange phenomenon occurred when Woodrow and Ollie went hunting early one July morning.They stepped out of the woods into a clearing – and into ankle deep snow; this, in the heat of summer.This is all that I can remember of the story.

Now; I must get back to my grandmother's house.

Once, in the middle of the night someone walked up and knocked on the front door at Mom Perry’s but never called out to us.We didn’t move nor make a sound, so after a few knocks whoever it was, left.It was kind of unnerving to me.I think Uncle Ollie may have had a rifle though I’m not sure.Nevertheless; Virgie never appeared afraid of anything nor anyone, but she did sleep with a big, long pair of old, dull gray shears under her feather pillow ‘bolster’, and had done so for years.Dad gave that feather bolster to me a few years before his death.I don’t know who got the shears. In late afternoon as the sun sank behind Knob Creek and the hills to the West, the call of the Whippoorwill and the Bob White Quail in the far distance might be all that broke the silence.We mimicked the Bob White whistle as best we could to see if they would answer.I like to think they did.I sat and gazed at that hill across the road; wondering what was on the other side.(I envisioned a lush valley with a small stream cutting through it.)Yet I never attempted to climb it; probably because my sister wouldn’t go with me; and my grandmother wouldn’t have allowed us to.I thought neither of them were outdoorsy, adventurous people.I guess that would describe me.I was also a quiet and shy child around adults.I didn't have much to say so I enjoyed listening to them tell stories, kid around with each other, and laugh. Usually in the evenings Uncle John D. Matthews; “J.D.,” as Virgie called him; and sometimes, a neighbor Ms. Boswell would come over to visit or eat with us.If it was a nice warm evening, we sat outside in the yard; in those old ladder-back chairs that some neighbor had hand-woven the seats.We’d lean back and watch the moon and stars, listening to the stories they would tell amid the sounds of crickets and tree frogs.There were trees further away; just not in the yard.The moon came up over that hill I never climbed. J. D. was tall and slender, with dark gray hair.He had a unique, gravelly voice that kind of crackled and broke up as he spoke.He lived across the road, in a little cabin with no electricity, right next to James Boswell’s deserted Sawmill.James and Hazel must have been living in Kankakee Illinois at that time.Hazel is Bertha McGee’s daughter and Virgie’s granddaughter.Mrs. Boswell was James Boswell’s mother.She lived in the house that at one time was the community’s schoolhouse, as it was called; which the Perry children attended as youngsters when they lived on Gosling Branch (directly west, as the crow flies.).Mrs. Boswell’s home was always cool in the summertime.It was full of plants, and lots of stuffed owls and hawks that her late husband must have collected.She was a petite, neat little lady, with dark eyes; and my first introduction to dyed hair: jet black!She would bring over homemade goodies for us; it was usually chocolate fudge which I could never get enough of. I really enjoyed it if I was at Mom Perry’s when her neighbors came to visit.They always carried on such interesting conversations.I remember once, Ethel Waters Blackwell and her three daughters visited.It stands out in my mind because Kathryn, the youngest daughter was pregnant with her first child and they were happily talking about the baby and baby names.Sadly, Kathryn and her unborn child perished in an auto accident in Nashville shortly after that.Aunt Mary said that Ethel and her girls visited Virgie often.When the girls were younger, Ethel had taught them to call Mom Perry “Aunt Virgie”.One day, when Vinnie called her “Aunt”; Virgie took her by the arm and said. “Listen here, I ain’t your aunt, and don’t you be calling me that.”I guess a road is adequate if it can get you there and back.In my earliest memories, West Point Road was indeed, a road; with potholes and barely room to pass.There were springs every few miles, flowing out of hillsides all along one or the other side of the road where travelers could stop for a cold drink of water, and we did that often.(Alas; the simplest things made us happy in those days.)Now when I make an occasional trip down West Point Road, I can point out where these springs are; even if we can't get to them.In the beginning, the road was just about on an even plane with the house but each time the County made improvements; widening and grading it, they took a little more of Virgie’s front yard; making a steep red-clay embankment that even us kids wouldn’t attempt to climb.The driveway was now inclined, and eventually the road was widened again and then paved.When I was sixteen years old, Dad reluctantly allowed me to drive back into town with my sisters, after warning me several times that “Some driver will run you off the road if you're not careful.)I kept that in mind as I ran a big Cadillac off the road.(Sorry) In the early fifties there was absolutely no industry in Lawrence County so if you didn’t have a large productive farm, there was no way to support a family.People my dad’s age (and younger) had to move to northern states to find employment.Dad (Glynn Perry) moved us to Bradley, Illinois for a couple of years; then back to Lawrenceburg in fifty-three, and again back to Bradley about 1956; this time to stay.Even though we were miles away; if Mom Perry got sick, we could be there in a day.Dad went whenever he could get off work.His sisters Mary and Maggie; with Gail and Ricky; went often to be with their mother.I was usually with them. Dad retired in the late eighties then he and mother moved back to Lawrence County leaving kids, grand kids, and great-grand kids in Illinois.It must have been bittersweet for them both.Glynn died March 16, 2001. Maggie, Mary, and their families moved to Bradley in the late forties to early fifties.At one time, our closest relatives all lived in Kankakee County.Bertha and Everett McGee lived there for a short period; as did Woodrow and his family.Mom Perry and Ollie even went up for a visit.Mary and Pat (Henry) Coats retired to Lawrenceburg in the late seventies but moved back to Bradley to be near their son Rick and his kids about a year before Pat died in March 2005.Mary lives there still, in a senior community.She is the only surviving child of Virgie and Dick Perry; now eighty-eight years old.Maggie passed in January of 2008. Virgie and Dick’s son, Woodrow. married Louise Gray.She died hours after the birth of their only child, W.L. Perry.W.L. was four or five years old when Woodrow was drafted into service during WWII.He sat his son down and explained to him why he had to leave and where he was going.W.L. lived with his grandmother, Mrs. Gray while his father was away.Louise Perry is buried in the Bethlehem Cemetery in Wayne County, TN. (It’s adjacent to West Point.) At one time, Woodrow was reported as missing in action for nine days or nine weeks; I forget which.The family was devastated.Someone told my cousin Gail that Mom Perry even went to a fortune teller who told her Woodrow was okay.The next day, Virgie received a letter from her son. Woodrow’s appendix burst while near the front line of fire.His Commanding Officer sent him to the Medics; they sent him back up front.Finally, he had an emergency appendectomy on the battlefield.He said he watched the Medic laying his intestines out on his chest during the surgery; while the battle continued to rage around them.He was awarded two bronze stars with ribbons and other decorations for his time in the service.After the war Woodrow married Cora Wade McGee and had five more sons; Donald Houston, Thomas, Richard, Stephen and Timothy.Woodrow and Cora Wade are both buried in Lawrence County Memorial Gardens.Stephen and Patty Perry’s son Richard D. Perry joined the Marines in 1989.In 1990 in Saudi Arabia; before the fighting began; Lance Cpl. Perry who headed a Recon Squad, was already inside the combat zone.He manned a machine gun against Iraqi soldiers who tried to storm Kuwait City.None crossed the bridge Marine Perry guarded.He was one of nine American fighters, whom President Bush & Mrs. Barbara Bush invited to the white house in Washington DC for special honors.Top of Page Virgie and her brother J. D. were members of the Mount Zion Methodist Church.However; in the late fifties or early sixties she had gotten into the habit of faithfully listening to a Church of Christ Preacher on the radio on Sunday mornings when she didn’t have a ride to church.One Sunday, while J. D. was visiting her; they discovered they both enjoyed listening to the same preacher.J.D. said to Virgie; “Why don’t we both get baptized in the Church together?” She agreed, but they didn’t do it right away.The next time Virgie’s daughters came for a visit; Virgie had them take her to the Salem Church of Christ where she was baptized.I’m not sure that J. D. was ever baptized in the Church of Christ; he died in 1962. The eldest daughter of Dick and Virgie was Bertha, who married Everett McGee and had three children.After his death in 1957, she moved into their daughter’s house on Mrs. Boswell’s property beside Mom Perry’s; and helped take care of her mother. They all dipped Snuff.Everybody dipped Snuff.Each had a favorite brand of the stuff and would argue that theirs was the best.However; if one ran out of their brand before the Peddler ran again, they weren't too proud to beg.The others would share, amid the complaints of how much better their own favorite tasted. Bertha, Virgie and Ollie moved to Loretto, in 1962 or 63? after a tornado damaged the house on West Point Road.Ollie was in the house when the tornado hit, moving it off its foundation.He was uninjured but told a hilarious story about the window curtains wrapping around his neck, pinning him to the wall as the wind blew the door open.Virgie was not there; my sister Dorothy had had a premonition of danger the previous night; and send her husband Jesse Nash to get Mom Perry and Ollie, so they could weather out the storm with them at their home in Lawrenceburg; but Ollie wouldn’t leave. Berthy always said that, “If she had to go anywhere, and had to go through Loretto to get there, she’d rather stay home.”But Mom Perry wanted to live in Loretto near her sister Viola Slagle and Brother Roy Matthews.Uncle Floyd may have been living in Nashville at that time but there were other Matthews’s relatives as well as Virgie’s mother’s relatives living in the Loretto area.Ollie occasionally worked helping deliver furniture for Ronnie McMasters at Green’s Furniture Store; which still exists, a block away from where they lived on Vine Street.All three later moved to Dellar Street in Lawrenceburg.Mom Perry died in 1970;Uncle Ollie died of cancer in 1975; Bertha in 1998 at the age of 96. Virgie's sister, Viola and her husband Orbra Slagle were such fun people to be around.When Dorothy and I were kids, Uncle Orbra would visit and then take us home with them for a couple of days.He would take us to his store, and give us a small paper bag of candy. And Aunt Viola was just the happiest person I can remember, she would laugh and cut up with us; something I don't remember my grandmother ever doing.One tradition that we carried on for a few years, was a family picnic at Joe Wheeler State Park on the Tennessee River in Alabama.Mary and Pat; Mom Perry, Ollie, Mom and Dad; and kids would meet Orbra, Viola, Margaret Ann & Bud Slagle for a day of fun and food.I think the Harvell’s joined us too.They had a boat so I bet we did some fishing too; but I don’t remember. Berthy & Everett, Maggie & Gerhardt, Henry (Pat) and Glynn are buried in the Houser Cemetery.Virgie, Dick, Ollie, Huston, Nora, Solon, John D. and his wife Janie; and several other relatives are buried in the Mount Zion Cemetery.It is tucked back on a wooded hillside beside Knob Creek, across the creek from the Mount Zion Church.When Mom Perry died in 1970, her burial was delayed a day or two because the creek was flooded so badly from the spring rains that the funeral home (nor anyone else) could cross it. There are four small grave markers that the family always put flowers on for “Decoration Days”; and (I) still do.The stones have no names and Virgie never spoke of them.We do not know whether those were stillborn infants; premature births, infant deaths, if they were male or female, or even twins.Aunt Janie told mother about the birth and death of one of the infants but didn’t know the cause of death.Virgie did state for the 1910 census records that she had given birth to five babies; but only one child was living.That was when Bertha was a small child; and before Ollie was born. Charley McLain now has a hay barn beside that lone tree that Ollie planted many years ago; the only tangible remains of so many memories.I don’t know why the rest of us didn't plant a tree.Evidence of the house is long gone, but I took my cousin Gail down by the old place on West Point Road on one of her visits from Florida in 2007.Her question was, “Suzie Jane, why didn’t we just climb that hill when we were kids?You know we wanted to!” Aunt Mary has since told me that she wanted to climb that hill too; and if I had asked her; we would have climbed it together.It just never occurred to me that anyone else ever thought about it. Virgie’s father Houston was married twice.His first wife was my great-grandmother Margarett Elizabeth Venable.Even though I located the censuses and marriage records for them, I’m still unsure of Margarett’s death date and circumstances as well as her final resting place.Houston told Virgie that Margarett is buried in the Blue Water Creek Cemetery in Mitchelltown, Lexington Alabama, If that is the location, she must have a stone marker with no inscription because in the fall of 2008 Bud Slagle, Jan McCormack and I walked the cemetery and never found it. I’m not sure when Margarett’s father Alexander Venable died, but her mother; Mary Malone Venable, married a second time to Richard Benjamin Powell in 1860 and moved from Giles County to Lawrence County where Richard owned a very large farm surrounding Blue Water Creek.Mom Perry said when she was young she really loved it when her grandmother would visit the family.She remembered her Grandmother Powell caring for her and her younger siblings when her own mother became ill; or possibly it was when Margarett died.; or both.Mom Perry and her daughters told about visits with the two younger half-sisters; Melinda Powell Smith and Kate Powell Bishop who lived in the Loretto area.Their descendants include Priscilla and Sondra; daughters of Uncle Floyd Matthews' second wife Vena. Aunt Maggie remembered her mother Virgie (in her later years) speak of Nannie, but never realized who she was talking about.Nannie was Virgie’s step-mother Nancy Farris, whom Houston married in the early 1900s.Nannie was about three years old when her own mother died.In 1880, Nannie was living with her grandparents in Giles County Tennessee, according to the census records.Nannie’s father later remarried and had more children.She was living with her brother and his wife in Lawrence County in 1900.Houston and Nannie had five children: Floyd, Roy, Beulah, Viola and Little Maggie.Nannie died (abt. age 35) in 1912 when her children were very, very young; and Houston died at Virgie and Dick’s home during Christmas dinner in 1919 when my dad was six months old.Top of Page